George Economou has asked a Marshall Islands judge to block a key board of directors vote by Seanergy Maritime Holdings.

The move by the Greek shipowner’s Sphinx Investment Corp is the latest salvo in a legal fight in which Economou is seeking to loosen the grip of New York-listed Seanergy’s chief executive, Stamatis Tsantanis.

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Sphinx told the US Securities and Exchange that it has filed a request in the Marshall Islands High Court for a temporary restraining order.

The aim is to block the Athens-based bulk owner’s annual meeting and prevent the powerful preferred shares held by Tsantanis from counting towards a board of directors vote.

As TradeWinds has reported, Seanergy is gearing up for a 4 November shareholder meeting in which it is asking investors to re-elect two of its board members and reject two candidates nominated by Economou.

But Sphinx complained that the date is before the High Court was scheduled to hold a hearing in Economou’s lawsuit against Seanergy, which seeks to invalidate the preferred shares that give Tsantanis 49.99% of the vote.

“In the view of the reporting persons [Sphinx and Economou], holding the 2024 annual meeting at such time under such circumstances renders it legally impossible for anyone other than the Issuer’s board nominees to win the election and will suppress the turnout of the non-insider stockholders at the 2024 annual meeting,” Sphinx said.

Seanergy told shareholders that it plans to move ahead with the vote, and it will address Economou’s motion in court.

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“We believe Economou’s last-minute attempt to delay our regularly scheduled annual meeting is simply another step to advance his self-interested attempt to gain effective control over the company’s board and its corporate strategy,” the company said.

Legal sources close to Seanergy’s management said they expect a solid majority of common shareholders to vote against Economou’s board nominees, even without Tsantanis’ preferred shares.

In the board meeting, Seanergy is seeking the re-election of board members Dimitrios Anagnostopoulos and Ioannis Kartsonas, better known to the shipping industry as John Kartsonas.

Economou wants to appoint Georgios Kokkodis and John Liveris to their positions, and he has asked shareholders to call for the resignation of Tsantanis and board members Christina Anagnostara and Elias Culucundis.

Harry Papachristou contributed to this article.

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